The performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) using simulated coal-derived syngas, with and without hydrogen chloride (HCl), was studied. Electrolyte- supported SOFCs were tested potentiostatically at 0.7 V at 800 and 900 degrees C with simulated coal syngas containing 0, 20, and 160 ppm HCl. The results from the tests without HCl show good performance with little degradation over 100 h of operation. Both 20 and 160 ppm HCl were shown to cause performance losses in the SOFCs after injection into the system. Although the tests presented in this paper show that HCl does cause degradation to SOFC performance, the cell performance was recoverable upon the removal of HCl from the fuel. Also recent results from anticipated Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle IGCC warm/hot-gas-cleanup technologies suggest that HCl will be removed to levels that will not cause any significant performance losses in SOFCs. Published by Elsevier B.V.